


Lotus Get This Off Our Chests

by Taliax



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hanahaki Disease, Humor, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route - "I want to stay with you.", Romance, Sans is bi, Teacher Toriel (Undertale), but like. make it mild and stupid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 12:14:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30021630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taliax/pseuds/Taliax
Summary: Spring is hanahaki season, and Toriel finds that she isn't the only one dealing with the magical illness.  Now she only has to brave the MTT-Brand Supercenter's gauntlet of puzzles to buy some medicine.
Relationships: Sans/Toriel (Undertale)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 21





	Lotus Get This Off Our Chests

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone does hanahaki a little different I think, but the basics of it in this universe: only monsters (or humans with magic) can get it, it's annoying but very rarely serious (think of it like getting spring allergies or a bad cold), and it goes away if you confess your feelings, regardless of if those feelings are returned or not. We don't do unrequited love in this house. Oh, and since monsters don't have blood, it's not really gross or anything when they cough up flowers.
> 
> Warnings for some very mild plant-related body horror and mentions of alcohol.
> 
> Anyway just a silly idea that wouldn't leave me alone, hope you enjoy! Thanks to Alyce as usual for beta reading, and as always, feel free to "hide creator's style" in the top right if the fonts are a pain to read.

“That’s, uh. Nice bouquet you got there,” Sans said when he appeared in Toriel’s classroom. He didn’t startle her—she was used to his silent comings and goings by now. But the subject that had drawn his attention still made her blush.

“It is nothing special.” She placed the handful of dusty flowers in her empty coffee mug. It wasn’t a proper vase, but on short notice, it would have to do.

After all, she hadn’t expected to cough up forget-me-nots this morning.

“Fluffybuns bugging you again?”  He asked while setting down two lunch trays and pulling a plastic chair up to her desk. She’d forgotten to pack them lunches, but he never minded the school’s cafeteria food. (Unless it was Papyrus’s turn on cooking duty.)

How should she answer? It would be easy to blame the flowers on Asgore—he had a habit of gifting her roses, no matter how many times she not-so-discreetly regifted them to the school’s other teachers. Or, on her less generous days, regifted them to the trash. 

“These are pretty tiny for him, huh?”  Sans reached out and brushed one of the petals with a bony fingertip. She was sure that he would notice the unnatural white dust coating the flower, but if he did, he didn’t mention it. “Thought he was more of an orchids and snapdragons kind of guy. Y’know. Flashy stuff. But I guess forget-me-nots make sense if he’s still… yeah.”

He turned away, blushing a light blue as he dug into his sloppy joe. The food choice meant that it was probably Brad—or Burgerpants, as the children called him—in the kitchen today. Hopefully he was heeding the rules about smoking on school grounds.

“You recognize these particular flowers?” Her brow furrowed.

“‘Course. Helps to have a _plot_ of flower names to pick puns from.”  He grinned. “But, uh, that would probably be insensitive under the circumstances.”

He had no idea. Well, it would be awkward to correct his guess now—especially considering the true source of the flowers.

“Like I said. It is nothing.” She pushed the mug of flowers behind her computer, making room to sit with her lunch tray across the desk from him. 

“How is your shift going?” she asked to change the subject.

“Eh, just another Monday morning.” He shrugged. Then he grinned, showing off the meat stuck in his teeth. “Except for the flowers clogging the toilets. That’s new.”

Toriel’s eyes widened. Of course. Spring was hanahaki season. A century of self-isolation made it easy to forget that other monsters would be dealing with the magical disease as well. Perhaps there had been medical advances in the last hundred years that could help treat her symptoms?

Or, she could bite the so-called bullet and address the _root_ of her feelings…

Her stomach turned. No, she was still far from ready for that.

“I am sorry you have had to deal with that,” she said, then hid a sneeze behind her paw. A tiny blue petal stuck to her paw pad.

Oh dear. She wiped it off against the side of her dress and hoped he hadn’t noticed.

“‘S not so bad. Like I said, I’ve got a whole bouquet of flower puns to get off my chest.”  He rapped a fist against his ribcage, leaving a red-brown stain behind on his white t-shirt. “None of the other custodians are half the audience you are, though. _Daisy_ me getting ready to tell a joke, and they make like a tree and _leaf.”_

Oh—oh that was _good._ She forced herself to hold in her laughter behind puffed cheeks. Snorting out petals in Sans’s face wasn’t how she intended to confess her blooming feelings.

Hee hee.  _Blooming._

“It sounds like they li _lac_ a sense of humor,” she said before taking a bite of her sloppy joe. Brad may not particularly enjoy cooking, but his food was still delicious. It was too bad that the sandwich irritated her inflamed throat today.

“Heh. _Lotus_ not be too hard on ‘em. Can’t expect them to feel _rosy_ after flushing their feelings down the drain.”  He swiped a french fry through his ketchup and tossed it in his mouth.

“Oh dear. You mean one of your coworkers has hanahaki too?”

He shrugged. “Harpy spent a bit too much time in the bathroom. And not just because she was cleaning it.”

Toriel sighed. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“And sorry that you’ll have to arrange for subs, right?”

“Well… I did not want to sound insensitive, but yes.” Hopefully she wouldn’t require a substitute herself. But she could only imagine how out of hand things would get if her students noticed her ailment.

“You could always send ‘em to Paps. ‘Guidance counsellor’ isn’t too different from matchmaker, right?”  He winked. 

“I… am not so sure about that. Not every monster is ready to put their feelings on display, even to ease their symptoms.” She cleared her throat, swallowing the itchy petals that threatened to come up. Though eating was difficult in this state, she could at least drink the chocolate milk carton he’d brought her. “Are there not medical remedies for hanahaki? I admit I am still out of touch after all these years.”

“Yeah, Alphys came up with a syrup that shrivels up the flowers. Makes you loopy as hell, though.”

Toriel blinked. “Do you know this from experience?”

“Nah, I just saw Alphys when she was on it. She used to get hanahaki bad every year back in the Underground. First it was for—” 

His eye sockets widened briefly, his lights shrinking to pinpricks. 

“Heheh. On second thought, she probably wouldn’t want me spilling her personal business. Even if it’s all in the past.”

“Of course.” Toriel nodded and ate a few french fries. Those were smaller and squishier than her sandwich, and they felt better on her throat. “If the flowers were no longer an issue, I suppose hanahaki could pass for typical spring allergies, could it not?”

“I guess. But where’s the fun in that? If you’re gonna feel miserable, you might as well get some free flowers out of it.”  He ripped open a ketchup packet, squeezed it into his mouth, and then dumped the crumbs from his tray in the trash. He’d eaten surprisingly quickly; she could almost believe he’d just teleported his food away. “Anyway. Better get back to the cafeteria. Twenty G says Harpy’s not gonna feel up to mopping today.”

“I know better than to make bets with you by now.” She smiled back at him.

He took her tray, unfinished food and all. It seemed a waste, but really all she wanted was some warm tea and a nice, long nap. She hadn’t known that fatigue was a symptom of hanahaki, but at least it explained why she’d had to lecture sitting down today.

“Hope Burg’s food didn’t disagree with you. I can sneak you a Nice Cream from the kitchen, if you want.”

That was thoughtful of him, even if his line of reasoning was incorrect.

“No thank you, Sans. I know you have your own work to attend to, and my students will be returning shortly.” She coughed again, but muffled it as well as she could.

“Well. You know I’m just a text away if you need anything, T. It’s not like dirty floors are going anywhere.”

With one last wink, he got up and disappeared through her door. She smiled as she watched him leave… until another coughing fit overtook her. This time, five whole stems came out, speckled with dust.

She sighed and added them to her mug. At least the flowers were unobtrusive. Small, blue… adorable. Just like a certain skeleton she knew.

A skeleton who was a dear friend. And nothing more than that.

She brushed dust off of the newest flower. 

“I am far too old for such silly feelings,” she told herself.

That was when a splash of purple caught her eye. Lying on Sans’s chair… was a sprig of lavender.

Brow furrowed, she leaned over her desk and picked it up between her claws. It smelled as fresh as it looked.

He’d probably just gotten it stuck to his hoodie while he was cleaning. After all, he didn’t seem to have any hanahaki symptoms. And even if he did, who was to say they would be caused by feelings for  _her?_

Still, she placed the lavender stem delicately between the petals of forget-me-nots.

XXX

Gaudy as it was, the MTT-Brand Supercenter (“Glamourize Your Life™”) was the one-stop shop for monster products in East Ebott. If any store sold Alphys’s hanahaki medicine, it would be here. Only if this failed would Toriel ask the ex-royal scientist for help. They were on better terms now, but she still wanted to avoid awkward questions if possible.

She picked up a plastic basket at the automatic door entrance, then began the tile puzzle to enter the building proper. Pink tiles were safe, and red tiles were impassible… what did the green tiles do again? The puzzles in the Ruins had never been so confusing…

Eventually she made it to the other side with only a few piranha bites to show for it. She kicked the last fish off of her toe and brushed off her dress.

“At least Mettaton is committed to authentic monster culture.” She was glad that Frisk was spending the night with Sans and Papyrus. Not only did they get out of a trip to the trap-filled store, but hopefully they would miss the worst of Toriel’s illness. She’d kept her symptoms under control with some regular cough medicine during class, but that was quickly wearing off.

“Alright, which way is the pharmacy…?”

She followed the signs (and steam vent puzzles) to the back of the store. There were aisles for various monster health products: salves for scales, conditioner for fur, MTT-brand anime powder for… something. She picked up a gallon-sized bottle of conditioner while she was here. Were there any special products for skeletons? Bone polish, perhaps? It might be a nice thank-you gift for all the help with Frisk…

She coughed into her elbow, staining her sleeve with blue. Right. She was on a mission. Gifts could wait.

She scanned the shelves for any sort of allergy medication. There were plenty of pills for fur allergies—Temmie fur in particular. Perhaps this wasn’t the right section.

“hOI! Can Tem,, help lady??”

Toriel looked down in surprise to find a Temmie smiling up at her. Her nametag just read “Temmie.”

“Um, actually, yes. Do you have any medicine for hanahaki?”

“MTT shop hav,, lots medsin!!”

Toriel waited for Temmie to elaborate. She didn’t.

“Um… could you perhaps tell me where it is?”

“Hanaki medsin… solv FLOWR PUZLE!! Tu easy… wuld be boring if i tell u…”

Right. Sometimes monsters could be a bit overzealous in clinging to their culture. Normally she wouldn’t blame them, but it would be _really_ nice to relieve this itching in her chest.

“Alright. Can you point me in the direction of the flower puzzle, at least?”

“Puzle… that way!!” Temmie’s arm stretched to impossible lengths, snaking around the side of the aisle.

Toriel smiled. “Thank you so much, Temmie.”

“ya YA!! bOI!!!”

She followed the long arm through a maze of aisles until she reached what looked like a garden of rainbow flowers. _Tall_ rainbow flowers. Their stems stretched near to the ceiling, their broad petals blocking the sun that filtered through the skylights. 

The sign nailed to one thick stem explained that in order to reach the other side of the aisle, she would have to travel under the flowers without being incapacitated by their pollen. Pink flower pollen induced feelings of euphoria, blue flower pollen induced hypnosis, orange flower pollen caused horrible sneezing…

“Oh, screw it. I do not have time for this.” 

She held her breath and ran through the aisle, basket clutched tight in her paw. But when she was about three-quarters of the way there, an awful scratching clawed at the inside of her chest. She doubled over, dropping her items, and coughed up practically a whole _garden_ of forget-me-nots.

Then she accidentally breathed in. Right underneath a giant blue flower.

She barely had time to curse before the world spun beneath her.

XXX

_ “—riel?  _ ARE YOU ALRIGHT?”

“Can you hear us? Mom?”

Toriel blinked awake. She was lying on her back, Frisk and Papyrus’s faces spinning above her. When had they gotten here? Or—when had she gotten  _there?_

“Where am I?” She asked. A mistake. Petals clogged her throat, probably having built up while she was sleeping. Ugh, she didn’t want to cough them up in front of Papyrus and her child, but she didn’t have much of a choice.

She retched into her shopping basket. That would teach Mettaton to put such ridiculous and dangerous puzzles in his superstore.

“YOU’RE IN THE MTT-BRAND SUPERCENTER! HOME OF THE BEST MONSTER PRODUCTS AND PUZZLES THIS SIDE OF THE SURFACE! BUT, IT APPEARS YOU HAVE FAILED THIS PARTICULAR PUZZLE.”

She groaned. Between the sleeping pollen and the hanahaki, she just wanted to lie here on the grassy floor forever. But while she could get away with collapsing anywhere in the Ruins, she had to uphold some degree of decorum now. If only so no one would doubt her ability to care for Frisk.

Frisk. She hated for them to see her like this.

“Did you… pull me out of there?” she asked, sitting up and glancing back at the shaded aisle.

“OF COURSE! WE COULDN’T LEAVE YOU LYING THERE. THE EFFERVESCENT FRISK SOLVED THE PUZZLE, AND I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CAN NEVER SLEEP ANYWAY! SO THE BLUE POLLEN HAD NO EFFECT ON ME! NYEH HEH HEH!”

“Are you okay, Mom?” Frisk asked, taking her basket and helping her to her feet. Or trying to, anyway. There was only so much a ten-year-old human could do to support a seven-foot-tall boss monster.

“I am fine, my child. I just…” she sighed, her face heating. “Failed the puzzle, as Papyrus said.”

Frisk’s brow furrowed. “But you’re amazing at puzzles.”

Toriel smiled and ruffled their hair. “That is very sweet of you. But I have been feeling a bit, er, under the weather today. It made this particular puzzle more difficult than it should have been.”

“Oh.” Frisk frowned down at the basket. Which contained one gallon of conditioner… and now, several dozen forget-me-nots. “ _Oh._ You have the same sickness that Sans does.”

“SHHHH!!!” Papyrus pressed a finger to Frisk’s lips. 

Toriel just gaped. “Sans… has hanahaki? But he was fine at the school.”

Papyrus sighed. “OH, YOU KNOW SANS. HE NEVER TELLS ANYONE ANYTHING! WHEN HE HAD A CRUSH ON GRILLBY, HE PRETENDED THAT THE ORANGE PETALS WERE PART OF A PRANK!”  He looked at her sheepishly. “ER, THAT’S IN THE PAST NOW, OF COURSE. THEY ARE STILL GOOD FRIENDS, BUT NOT, LIKE THAT.”

“I… see…?” 

She did not see. Apparently Sans had hanahaki for someone, who was not currently Grillby. Which only narrowed the possibilities down to almost anyone else in town.

She pointedly did not consider the possibility that her feelings might be requited. She had dealt with enough heartbreak, thank you very much.

“WHAT I’M TRYING TO SAY IS, DON’T FEEL BAD FOR NOT NOTICING. SKELETONS DON’T HAVE THE SAME SYMPTOMS AS OTHER MONSTERS.”

“He still seems tired, though,” Frisk frowned. “More tired than usual. We came to get him some medicine. We can get you some, too. If that’s okay?”

Rather than press Papyrus for more information—which she may not get anyway—she just nodded. “Thank you, my child.”

They smiled and reached up on their tip-toes to grab a bottle labeled “Petal Punisher.” Ha. Sans would appreciate the name. 

Meanwhile, Papyrus took her conditioner and placed it in his basket, which contained another bottle of medicine, the MTT-brand anime powder she’d noticed earlier, and a few boxes of fettucini.

“LET ME ASSIST YOU, MISS TORIEL. YOU SEEM MORE AWAKE THAN SANS, BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU SHOULD PUSH YOURSELF! FRISK AND I WILL HAVE YOU OUT OF THESE PUZZLES FASTER THAN YOU CAN SAY ‘SPAGHETTI’! NYEH HEH HEH!!!”

She accepted the arm that Papyrus wrapped under her shoulders.

“Thank you…”

For such an energetic monster, Papyrus was very patient with her as they navigated back though the store. He’d apparently been here enough times to know the fastest routes with the easiest puzzles, which she appreciated greatly. Soon they had checked out and made it back to the parking lot.

“Thank you again, Papyrus, Frisk. I suppose I will see you tomorrow.” She reached in her pocket for her car keys, but Papyrus frowned.

“ACTUALLY, MISS TORIEL, I WAS THINKING… WOULD YOU LIKE TO STAY THE NIGHT WITH SANS AND I? I HATE TO LEAVE YOU ALONE IN YOUR CONDITION.”

“That is a sweet offer, but I am perfectly capable of caring for myself.” She sneezed, spraying blue petals across the black asphalt. “I promise. This will not impair my driving.”

“Please?” Frisk looked up at her, biting their lip. “It would be fun to have a sleepover with all four of us.”

“AND I CAN MAKE YOU AND SANS A WONDERFUL SPAGHETTI SOUP!! THAT’S SURE TO MELT THOSE PESKY PETALS AWAY!!!”

She hid a grimace. She didn’t relish the thought of choking down Papyrus’s soup, even if his cooking had improved a decent amount while living on the surface. But if Frisk wanted her there… well, she hated to make her child worry.

“Alright.” She gave in, before her mind could process how terrible of an idea this was. Spending the night? In the same house as Sans? Where he was sure to realize her ailment matched his own?

Perhaps making extremely poor decisions was also a symptom of hanahaki.

“Yay!” Frisk punched the air. “Slumber party!”

“SLUMBER PARTY!!!” Papyrus cheered even louder before pulling her into a crushing hug. “WE’RE GOING TO HAVE SO MUCH FUN, YOU’LL FORGET YOU’RE EVEN ILL!”

She doubted that. But somehow, she found herself smiling anyway.

XXX

Sans and Papyrus’s house looked exactly as it had Underground, though she’d only visited their old home in order to help them move a few personal belongings. Somehow, Sans had managed to clone the whole structure, but not the items inside. Much like with his “shortcuts,” everyone just chalked it up as something that Sans did.

The lumpy old couch sat in the living room. And on that lumpy couch lay a lump of a skeleton.

“Paps? Frisk? Wha’ took you so long?”  Sans’s voice sounded slurred, and her soul panged. Had his condition really deteriorated in just a few hours? 

“APOLOGIES, SANS! WE HAD TO STOP AND ASSIST TORIEL AT THE MTT-MART. ONCE SHE HEARD THAT YOU WERE FEELING ILL, SHE SIMPLY HAD TO COME WITH US TO CHECK ON YOU.”

Papyrus winked at her, and Frisk copied him with a grin. Wait. Did they know…?

“FRISK AND I WILL PREPARE YOUR MEDICINE IN THE KITCHEN. MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME, MISS TORIEL!”

Oh dear. They had to know. Of course, her flowers hadn’t exactly been subtle…

“Tori…? Wait, Pap'rus—” Sans reached out for his brother, but he was already gone. His bare arm dropped limp over he edge of the couch. He must be feeling truly awful to forego his usual hoodie… but if he was warm, then what was the purpose behind the all the sheets? 

“Fridge,” he mumbled while burying himself back under his cocoon of blankets. 

“Fridge?” She asked curiously before settling down on the couch herself. There was plenty of room at Sans’s slippered feet.

“Eheh… it’s just an uh, fake swear. Paps made a swear jar for when Frisk comes over, and I don’ wanna lose half my paycheck.”

Toriel scanned the room and found the jar in question sitting next to Sans’s pet rock. She wasn’t sure whether or not to be amused at the fact that the jar was already half full. 

That was hardly the most pressing issue at the moment, though. 

“How are you feeling?” Toriel pressed the back of her hand to his skull. From what she remembered, hanahaki rarely induced fever, but Papyrus had said it affected skeletons differently. He definitely felt warm...

“Uh. Tired?” He blushed blue beneath her hand. “Sorry you came all this way. I didn’t…” he trailed off, for once either lacking the words to say, or lacking the energy to say them. 

“I understand. There is no need to be embarrassed.” Oh, she was such a hypocrite.

“I didn’t want you to worry,” he mumbled. “I’ll be back to mopping floors in no time.”

Even as he said that, he drew in a hissing breath. Did talking hurt when he had no lungs? How _did_ hanahaki affect skeletons, anyway?

“Sans, your health is much more important than whether or not you can work.” She rested her palm on his knee. Well, where she assumed his knee was under all those blankets. “Had I known, I would have sent you home earlier.”

He chuckled, and it sounded like bones grinding together. “Wasn’t so bad then. I’ve endured _wort.”_

She laughed in spite of herself. “I am glad that your puns still _rose_ to the occasion.”

He didn’t laugh back. At first she felt ridiculous, trying to make him laugh when it likely caused him pain, but then she noticed where he was staring.

At the light blue petals that had landed on his blanket.

“Heh… wow. I feel like an idiot.” He smacked his forehead. “Here, I was, making all these dumb jokes, and you…”

“Sans.” She pressed a finger to his mouth. “Stop it. I would have told you if your jokes hurt my feelings.”

He pushed her hand aside. “Then why didn’t you tell me? You let me think Asgore gave you those flowers. If you were just trying to spare _my_ feelings—”

He cut off, looking down at his chest. Her brow furrowed.

“Your… feelings?”

Did she dare hope? It already seemed to be rising in her chest whether she wanted it or not. Or maybe those were just more flowers, itching on their way out. 

He sighed, seeming to deflate.

“I mean… it’s pretty obvious, huh? Paps and the kiddo already saw right through me… heh.”

He chuckled again before peeling off his blankets. Underneath, he was shirtless. That might’ve been odd under normal circumstances, but right now, there was an obvious reason why.

His ribcage was tangled with vines.

“Oh.” She gasped before she could catch herself. Roots dug into hairline cracks in his ribs and sternum, likely even his spine. It was difficult to tell with the lavender blossoms filling up so much of the space inside.

“You still think there’s no need to be embarrassed?” He mimicked her voice almost perfectly. It would have been funny had it not cracked on the last word. 

“I… I am so sorry, I had no idea…”

Those flowers couldn’t be for her. How could he love her enough to grow a whole garden in his chest?

_ What a selfish thought.  _ She grimaced in disgust. Love wasn’t determined by pain. Plenty of monsters in love never even suffered hanahaki, or had far less serious cases. And regardless, the most important thing was to help her friend return to full health as quickly and painlessly as possible.

“Tori, please. The last thing I need is a pity _poppy.”_ He flashed a tight grin and pulled the blanket back over his chest. “I wanna tell ya somethin’. But you can’t go treating me like I’m made of glass, okay?”

She nodded, fighting back the urge to trace her paw over the curve of his ribs, to carefully untangle every vine there. Whoever his feelings were for, they should know what they were doing to him. She’d never heard of a case this serious outside of the rare human mage catching the disease.

“I’ve only got one HP.”

She looked up sharply, her eyes widening in surprise. She’d expected to hear him confess his crush, or… she didn’t know. But this…?

“I know you care. I see it on your face. But ser'ously, don’t freak out. I’m okay.”

She nodded again, more to calm herself than anything. “Is that why this illness is so serious for you?”

“Yeah. Though, it wasn’t this bad last time… maybe it’s karma for making fun of Harpy.”  He grimaced. 

“So it really started just this afternoon.”

“Crazy, huh?” He forced another grin. His face was still looking a little blue. “What about you?”

“This morning,” she admitted.

“Heh. I didn’t think hanahaki was contagious, but maybe we bent the rules somehow. I’ll have to ask Alphys to look into it.”

Toriel nodded, frowning. There was a lot about the disease that she didn’t understand. It could last quite a while, unless the monster confessed their feelings. Whether they were requited or not, that was a quick and reliable cure. So if Sans was implying what she thought he was… did he just need to be more straightforward? Or had she misunderstood him in his drowsy state?

Well, there was only one way to find out. 

She opened her mouth. She didn’t consider herself a coward, but suddenly the words she wanted to say dried up like dead leaves.

“I know that look, T. What’s eating at you? ‘Sides the flowers literally growing in your chest, heh.”

“Nothing but the musings of a silly old lady.” She smiled, but he didn’t look convinced.

“Old? We both know you don’t look a day over 935.”

She chuckled at that, and for the first time today, her throat didn’t itch.

“I don’t even know how to say it.” She sighed. She knew how she felt—the flowers had eroded away the last of her denial. But the last time she had confessed her love for another monster was, much like Sans’s rough estimate, over nine hundred years ago. 

“Then don’t.”  He shrugged, jostling his blanket.  “Joke about it instead. It’s what I do.”

She blinked. That… might actually work.

“Knock knock,” she began before she could talk herself out of it.

His eyelights glowed a little brighter.  “Who’s there?”

“I love.”

He blinked.  “I love… who?”

She couldn’t help snorting a little.

“I love _you,_ you goober.”

His jaw dropped open. His eyelights flashed like stars.

“Tori. Did you. Just turn a knock knock joke into a heartfelt confession?”

Her face heated. “I also called you a goober. That part is important.”

This time when he laughed, he sounded like his old self.

“I am a goober. I’m a goober who loves you so much.”

At his words, the stems in her chest seemed to shrivel up. She could breathe. Did that mean—?

“Was that all it needed? Do you feel better?”

“I… think so? Huh. I’ve never really done the whole traditional hanahaki cure thing. Last time I just drank a ton of alcohol until it burned the flowers up. And Grillbz threw me out of the bar.” He chuckled. 

“That sounds like quite the story.” She smiled, fingers curling around the edge of his covers. “Can I check?” 

“Knock yourself out.”

She gently pulled back the blankets. Now in the center of his ribcage was a dry, knotted mess of brown stems.

“Fridge. If it’s what’s on the inside that counts, I’m screwed.” He grinned. 

“It looks worse than it is.” Much like the skeleton himself. For all his outward laziness and jokes, he was always there for her when she needed him most. 

And now, it was her turn to be here for him.

She shifted closer to him and began the slow process of untangling the dead vines. Through mutual agreement, he eventually ended up lying in her lap, where his rib cage was easier to reach. It felt like the most natural thing in the world.

“Did you ever think this would happen?” he asked quietly while she sliced a particularly stubborn knot with a careful claw. 

“You will have to be more specific, dear. A lot of unexpected things have happened today.”

“Heh.”  His chuckle jostled his bones, nearly letting her claw nick him.  “I mean… me ‘n you. Two goobers. In l-love.”

His whole face was stained blue. Apparently that wasn’t a hanahaki symptom—he was just  _shy._

Oh, that was too cute.

“I will admit, I did not.” She laughed. “And I do wish it had not taken you becoming so ill for me to learn you returned my feelings.”

“You and me both.”  He shuddered. “Guess I just never had the _guts_ to tell you.”

“At least you have an excuse, Mr. Funnybones.” She wiggled her fingers between his ribs, and he laughed. 

Before she could say anything else, a camera flash startled her.

“Fridge,” her child’s voice hissed from the kitchen.

“LANGUAGE, FRISK!”

“But fridge isn’t even a cuss word...!”

Sans stared at her, his eyelights guttering out. “Those bastards totally set us up.”

“LANGUAGE, SANS!”

Toriel laughed. “You _did_ say your brother was quite the matchmaker.”

He rolled over, burying his face in her lap. “Karma is _really_ kicking my butt today.”

On impulse, she leaned down and placed a quick kiss on the back of his skull.

“...On second thought, maybe I can live with karma after all.”

Apparently realizing their cover was blown, Frisk and Papyrus bounded into the living room, plopping down on either side of Toriel.

“I’m so proud of you, Mom.” Frisk hugged her arm.

“AND I’M SO PROUD OF YOU, SANS! YOU WERE FINALLY HONEST ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS! AND NOW YOU DON’T HAVE TO DRINK THAT NASTY MEDICINE!! AND WE CAN HAVE A FUN SLUMBER PARTY WHERE NO ONE IS SICK AND EVERYONE HAS A GOOD TIME!!!”

“Heh. Does that mean you’ll give me a pass on the swear jar?”

“OF COURSE NOT!! I HAVE STANDARDS!!!”

Toriel laughed at the brothers’ antics. They were already practically family to her. It was comforting to know that these new developments with Sans wouldn’t change that.

No, she had nothing to worry about. Whatever bloomed between them would only be more beautiful.

**Author's Note:**

> In case it wasn't obvious, the person Alphys used to get hanahaki for was Asgore, lol.


End file.
